Drying apparatus.



Patented Sept. 5, I899.

W. E. ALLINGTON.

DRYING APPARATUS.

(Application filed May 1, 1899.)

2 Sheds-Sheet 2,

We Model.)

llnurnn STATES lVlLTilAM E. ALLINGTON, OF SAGINAlV, MICHIGAN.

DRYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 632,508, dated September 5, 1899.

Application filed May 1 1899. Serial No. 715,181. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM E. ALLINGTON, of Saginaw, East Side, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fan- Blower Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fan-blower drying apparatus, and has for its object to provide an apparatus for the drying of lumber or other like material wherein said material may be effectually dried by the rem oval of moisture therefrom in as rapid a manner as is consistent with proper treatment and at a comparatively small expense.

To these ends my invention consists in certain novel features, which I will now proceed to describe and will then particularly point out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a structure embodying my invention, the same being shown partly in horizontal section. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, partly broken away; and Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation of the fan blower and heater.

In said drawings, indicates a dryingchamber, which may be of any suitable construction, and 11 an air-outlet pipe extending into the upper portion of said chamber and there provided with branches 12, having openings 13, by means of which they communicate with the said upper portion of the drying-chamber. The pipe 11 communicates with the interior of a condenser 14,which in the particular form shown consists of a cylindrical body closed at bottom and top by means of diaphragms 15 and 16, respectively. Through the interior spaces of this condenser, with which the pipe 11 communicates, there extends a plurality of air-pipes 17, which are notin communication with said interior, their ends being secured to the diaphragms 15 and 16, which are apertured to receive them. These pipes or air-passages are thus in open communication with the atmosphere at their upper ends, while their lower ends open into an air-chamber 18, which has an opening 19, communicating with the atmosphere and controlled by one or more valves or doors 20, so that said opening may be either entirely closed or opened to any desired extent. In the construction shown this air-chamber 18 lies immediately below the body of the condenser, and its inclosing wall is a continuation of the cylindrical wall of said condenser. A drip 21 is provided, by means of which the water of condensation may be drawn from the interior of the condensing-chamber.

22 indicates a pipe extending from the condensingchamber to the fan-casing 23 and opening into this latter at one of the eyes of said casing.

The particular construction of fan and heater which I have shown in the present instance and which Iprefer to employ is that set forth in an application for Letters Patent filed by me April 29, 1899, Serial No. 714,973, to which application reference is made for a detail description thereof. It is sufficient for the present purpose that said apparatus comprises a fan 2e, inclosed within the casing 23, a heater 25, the pipes whereof surround the fan and are inclosed within the casing 23, and a secondary or inner casing 26, forming, with .the outer casing 23, a conduit 27, inclosing the heater-pipes and provided at one end with an opening, 28, communicating with the fanchamber 29 and at its other end with an outlet-opening 30. The fan-wheel is provided with a pulley 31 on its shaft, by means of which or by any other suitable means said fan may be rotated.

The discharge-opening of the fan-casing is connected with a pipe 32, which extends into the lower portion of the interior of the drying-chamber 10 and is there provided with branches 33, having openings 34 for the discharge of the water. The chamber 10 will be provided with any suitable meanssuch, for example, as the open floor (indicated at )for supporting the lumber or other material to be dried and at the same time permitting the air-currents to come into thorough and intimate contact therewith.

The apparatus thus described operates in the following manner: The drying-chamber being closed when in operation, its only communications are through the pipes 11 and 32, so that the same body of air is constantly drawn from the drying-chamber through the condenser and thence through the heater, being returned from this latter to the dryingchamber. This circulation is induced by the fan-wheel,-and the heated air is discharged into the lower portion of the drying-chamber, whence it rises through the lumber and is drawn off at the upper portion of said chamber after passing through the lumber. A portion of the moisture absorbed by the air from the lumber is deposited in the condenser by reason of the fact that the air is cooled to a greater or less extent during its passage through the condenser, and in this cooling and somewhat contracting it parts with a portion of its moisture. The amount of moisture extracted may be regulated by controlling the amount of air passing upward through the pipes 17, and in the construction shown this control is exercised by means of the doors or valves 20, which regulate the airinlet opening 19 of the air-chamber 18, from which the supply of air for the pipes 17 is drawn. After passing through the condenser the air is drawn through the pipe 22 into the fan-blower and heater, where it is forced from the fanchamber 29 through the opening 28 into the conduit 27 and passes through said conduit longitudinally of the heating-pipes therein. By reason of this construction the air is thoroughly heated in a comparatively short space of time and delivered at a comparatively high pressure and speed to the pipe 32, whence it is discharged into the lower portion of the drying-chamber 10 and, again rising through the lumber, extracts a further part of the moisture therefrom.

The apparatus is to a great extent self-regulating after having once been properly adjusted, as the amount of moisture extracted from the air by the condenser is proportionate to the amount contained therein, and this latover again, the time and expense of constantly heating a fresh supply of atmospheric air at normal temperature are done away with and.

easily regulated. Moreover, the air to be 7 treated by condensation and heating is drawn from the top of the chamber, where its tem= perature and humidity are at a maximum, while the returning air after having been treated in the condenser and heated is delivered into thelower portion of the dryingchamber, and advantage of the natural draft is thus had. Then a heater of the particu lar character and arrangement described is employed in conjunction with the fan-blower, the effectiveness of the circulation produced by this latter is materially increased. I do not wish, however, to be understood as limiting my invention to the use of this preferred construction and arrangement of the heater relatively to the fan, as the heater may be otherwise locatedas, for instance, in the lower portion of the drying-chamber 10.

Other modifications will readily suggest themselves, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise details hereinbefore described, and shown in the drawings.

I claim- In a fan-blower apparatus, the combination, with a drying-chamber, of a condenser comprising a condensing-chamber connected with the upper part of said drying-chamber,

air pipes or passages extending through said condensingchamber and communicating with the atmosphere at their upper ends, said condenser being also provided with an airchamber with which the lower ends of said air-pipes communicate and said air-cham-' WILLIAM E. ALLINGTON.

lVitnesses FREDERICK O. GOODWIN, IRVINE MILLER. 

